Sylvania

Paul’s Famous Burgers Verdict: 8/10

Beef Burger: 7/10

Chicken Burger: 8/10

Sides: 8/10

Why Paul’s?

She says: He has mentioned Paul’s Burger Shop in every burger related conversation we have had (and there have been many) but I hadn’t heard of it before we met.

He says: She has suffered (or I’d like to think fawned over) my incessant ramblings regarding Paul’s Famous Burgers for quite some time now. Since arriving in Sydney around eight years ago I’ve been subjected to list after list claiming Paul’s burgers to be the finest this city has to offer and year after year I’ve come close but never quite managed to make my way to this apparent burger utopia.

What did you order?

Beef burger with the lot (egg, bacon, cheese, and pineapple)

Chicken burger with the lot (egg, bacon, cheese, and pineapple)

Hot chips with chicken salt

Special sauce

Tell us about the Beef burger?

He says: It’s a beast of a burger that immediately reminds me of the no frills local fish and chip shop burgers I was reared on. Unlike She I liked the texture and flavour of the patty. It was an exercise in no nonsense minimalism. The key ingredient to the burger however was the special sauce which I’ll put down to taking 57 years to perfect. Creamy, garlicky with a bit of bite and so delicious I’d get a priest to dip my child into it at a baptism if I was that way inclined. This burger is the kind of elixir that I feel would have better chance of solving a 3 bottle Jack Daniels hangover than a UV drip. Put simply, it’s a behemoth and it’s awesome.

She says:The beef burger was generous in every way but the meat was not up my alley. (He suggests that perhaps I left it to sit too long while I took my time to work through the chicken burger.)

So then, how did you find the chicken burger?

She says:The chicken burger was my favourite. A huge amount of mayo and cheese, with a not-too-thick piece of chook, a sweet chunk of pineapple, egg and bacon which together tasted about a million times better than it sounds.

He says: it’s almost identical to the beef except for the meat at hand. I enjoy it but have never been all that excited with grilled chicken in burgers (exceptions aplenty though e.g. Chur Burger and Buns & Balls).

And what about the sides?

She says: Oh yes, and the chips! They were a highlight. Proper swimming carnival style, crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle and bright yellow with chicken salt.

He says: The French fries with chicken salt and aforementioned special dipping sauce deserve a shout out for near perfection. Sometimes I like to hope that the pillars of heaven are lined with chicken salt.

A Note on Our Verdicts

We try and sample a beef burger, a non-beef burger and a side. We score each out of 10 and then give a final verdict. For our final verdict, we take into account where we think the restaurant should sit on our Leader Board, which is why sometimes the verdict isn't exactly the average of the three, scores.